These homemade Tagalong Girl Scout cookies are even more delicious than the originals…no green uniform required!
copy cat Tagalong Girl Scout cookies
Yes, it is possible to be too virtuous. Here’s how it all went down— I didn’t intend to, but I bought a few boxes of girl scout cookies from the little girl that came to our door last month. She delivered them the other day. 3 boxes of Tagalongs, my favorite. But I was so good I stashed them inside a flat rate box that was just about filled and ready to be shipped to my daughter at grad school. I even taped the box shut.
So of course the next thing I know I’m going crazy looking for a little something sweet after dinner. On a whim I typed in DIY Tagalong Cookie in my Google search bar and it was straight downhill from there. Or uphill. Depends on your point of view I guess.
Tagalongs are my favorite Girl Scout Cookie.
I don’t know if I’m in the minority on that or what. I like them much better than all the others. Tagalongs have a shortbread cookie base, a layer of sweetened peanut butter filling, and a coating of milk chocolate. They’re richer than the other Girl Scout cookies, and that peanut butter chocolate thing is always good.
what you’ll need to make copy cat Tagalongs
for the shortbread cookies
- all purpose flour
- confectioner’s sugar
- egg
- butter
- baking powder
- salt
- vanilla extract
for the filling
- peanut butter
- smooth pb works best, and make sure it’s not ‘natural’ peanut butter (the kind that separates into an oily layer.) My preferred brand is Jiff.
- confectioner’s sugar
for the coating
- milk chocolate
- I used milk chocolate chips for my coating. I should have used baking chocolate, but I didn’t have any. The chocolate chips will work, but I find they melt up a little thicker, and so it is a little more tedious to dip the cookies. I would recommend using baking chocolate.
My homemade Thin Mints have been so popular, and they turned out great, but I have to say, these Tagalong cookies are even more my style. I guess I’m slowly working my way through the Girl Scout lineup…anybody have a good recipe for Samoas?
more Girl Scout inspired recipes
- Thin Mint Cookies
- Gluten Free Thin Mint Cookies
- No Bake Vegan Thin Mint Cookies
- Easy No Bake White Chocolate Thin Mints
- Lazy No Bake Thin Mint Cookies
Tagalong Girl Scout Cookies
Ingredients
for the cookies
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into pieces
for the peanut butter filling
- 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
- 2 Tbsp powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
for the chocolate coating
- 16 oz milk chocolate, cut into small pieces
Instructions
for the cookies
- Preheat your oven to 375F
- Whisk the egg and vanilla in a small cup and set aside.
- Pulse the dry ingredients in the bowl of a food processor to combine. Drop in the pieces of butter and pulse until the butter is incorporated and the mixture is crumbly.
- Pour in the egg mixture and pulse again, about 25 or 30 times, until the dough comes together.
- Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and bring it together in a ball. Divide in 2. Roll out each half into a log about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. The log will be approximately 6 inches or so long.
- Roll the logs in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for about an hour. I like to put my dough logs inside a split cardboard tube (like the kind that wrapping paper comes on) so that the log stays nice and round. If you don’t have one, try turning and reshaping your dough halfway through the chilling time.
- Slice the chilled logs of dough into 1/8 inch slices, and place them 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
- Bake at 375 for about 8 to 10 minutes, until just golden around the edges. Cool on a rack.
for the peanut butter filling
- Mix the peanut butter, the sugar and the vanilla. Spread an even layer of the filling on each cooled cookie.
for the chocolate coating
- Put the chocolate into a 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup, and microwave for 1 minute. Take out and stir. If the chocolate is not completely melted, microwave for another 30 seconds. Stir until completely melted and smooth. Make sure you measuring cup is completely dry, even a drop of water will cause your chocolate to seize up.
- Take a cookie and spread chocolate across the bottom. A small offset spatula works well for this. Then place the cookie on a fork, and spoon the melted chocolate all over the top, being sure to cover the whole top. Tap the fork along the edge of the bowl to remove the excess chocolate from the cookie. Carefully lay the cookie on waxed or parchment paper.
- If your chocolate becomes too thick to work with, microwave it for 15 to 30 seconds to-re warm it.
- Let all the cookies set for 30-45 minutes or so until the chocolate firms up. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container until ready to eat.
Sue they look crazy, amazing, fabulously good! In general, “fussy” cookies that need rolling out, cutting out, spreading & smearing, then dipping, aren’t my thing…but I would defi make an exception for these! And I just saw the pic on TS, too. Some of your prettiest cookies ever! I want that filling, too 🙂 Just that will be fine!
“anybody have a good recipe for Samoas?” — I have a recipe for Samoas Bars. I didn’t want to deal with the cookies, so much work. So made bars. They’re not exactly the same (you can find really good copycat recipes for Samoas) but they’re a pain to make. Ha!
Pinning!
In general I agree completely, too many steps and you lose me. But these are good because you can make the dough log in advance, dividing up the work into 2 days. I don’t know why, but I find dipping stuff in chocolate to be fun and almost therapeutic!
I’ll check out your Samoa bars, I think that sounds like a good way to go with them.
So funny. I just made a version of a thin mint for my daughter who is visiting. But my husband loves the tagalongs. And you make them look so good. I may have to break down!
Life would be so much easier if everybody in the family all loved the same foods, wouldn’t it?
The melty chocolate and gooey peanut butter in your post is making my taste buds go bonkers! I’m a PB & Chocolate fanatic and love the idea of making tagalongs homemade. These will get me into some real trouble! 🙂 – Julia http://www.theroastedroot.net
Thanks Julia!
These look great, although thin mints are my favorite. Maybe the Tagalongs with almond butter? Probably a very dangerous idea…
Oooooh—good idea!
Yay! Tagalongs are my favorite too. They just don’t put enough in those boxes. I can’t wait to try this, maybe with semisweet chocolate instead of milk though. Yum, I can’t wait. Thanks for the recipe.
I know! They do that on purpose I guess.
All the comments about the dark chocolate coating have got me itching to make another batch
I almost just got out of bed to make these.
🙂
Yum! I was just talking to a client about this. His wife is very very busy right now. Their cupboards are filled with girl scout cookies! I told him no one has been by my house yet and that peanut butter patties are my favorite!
It’s pretty random which neighborhoods get ‘targeted’!! Oh well, at least now you can make your own 🙂
We could have some fun in the kitchen together! I looked at these and the Samoas but haven’t attempted them yet. I was thinking about making them into bars because the flavor combination of chocolate, caramel, coconut and shortbread is very exciting. These are wonderful Sue! If you need to get rid of them I can pass along a good mailing address – for me 🙂
Yep, Samoa bars sound like a pretty good idea to me, when do we get started? Maybe we could pair up virtually to make them together??
Uhhhh can I make these for breakfast?! They look SO good! Husband is out of town for the weekend so this might be a very dangerous thing to make and have all alone 🙂 Thanks!
You have my permission to eat them for breakfast 🙂
You know what the problem with this recipe is? The ingredients will almost always be in your pantry…no matter how much clearing out of sweets you do! I don’t know about you, Sue, but when a craving hits, I make do with what I find in the cupboards! 🙂 You’ve come up with a delicious cookie.
I didn’t think of that, but you’re right…dangerous…